


Not Quite Right

by Pegasus143



Category: Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Background Jinx/Penny, Background Sean Diaz/Finn - Freeform, Coming Out, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Nonbinary Chris Eriksen, Nonbinary Daniel Diaz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2020-08-19 19:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20215297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pegasus143/pseuds/Pegasus143
Summary: “Hey, Dad, look at this new Captain Spirit drawing I did!”“That looks pretty good, Chris. But y’know, he’d look even manlier with big muscles!”Chris frowned.That’s not right.“Hmm… maybe…”





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey, Dad, look at this new Captain Spirit drawing I did!”  
“That looks pretty good, Chris. But y’know, he’d look even manlier with big muscles!”  
Chris frowned. _That’s not right._ “Hmm… maybe…”

* * *

“_Chris_, can I at least look at some of your other drawings while you’re working on this one?” Daniel asked.  
“Ugh, fine,” Chris said, passing Daniel an older sketchbook while continuing to work.  
“I love how you draw Captain Spirit… Ooh, Power Bear sketches! One time I saw some older Power Bear designs… I wish I could have t-shirts with your drawings on them…” Daniel’s chatter faded into the background.  
Chris dumped out a box of colored pencils, looking for the right shade. “Hey, Daniel, which one of these blues would look cool in Captain Spirit’s hair?”  
“Let me see,” Daniel said, trading the sketchbook for the colored pencils.  
Chris was about to close the book, but happened to glance down at the drawing. _Oh no…_  
It was an alternate design of Captain Spirit, with a skirt. Dad wasn’t allowed to see it.  
“You should use this one,” Daniel said, waving a periwinkle blue. Then he noticed the sketch Chris was looking at. “I really like that one! Why don’t you have any others like that?”  
“Don’t you think it’s… weird?” Chris asked, surprised by Daniel’s reaction.  
“No, why would it be weird?”  
“Dad keeps saying I should draw Captain Spirit more ‘manly’. I don’t think he’d like it if he saw Captain Spirit wearing a skirt.”  
“Well, _I_ like it.”  
“Thanks, Superwolf.”  
“Anytime, Captain Spirit.”

* * *

_3 years later…_  
Chris didn’t bother leaving a note when going to see Daniel anymore. No one cared.  
“Daniel!” Chris yelled up at his open window. Daniel ran over and looked out. “Can I come over?”  
“Yeah, come in through the back,” Daniel said before disappearing.  
Chris stepped over the fence and ran over to the back door to the Reynolds’.  
“Hey. Let’s go up to my room,” Daniel said. The two of them ran upstairs, Daniel shutting the door behind them. “What’s up?”  
“I just… needed to get away for a little bit.”  
Daniel laid down on his bed, patting the open space next to him for Chris. They stayed that way a few minutes, Chris studying Daniel’s features. _I really need to draw Superwolf again. His hair’s longer now, and where’d he get that bandana?_  
“Chris?” Daniel asked, breaking that train of thought.  
“Yeah?”  
“If Captain Spirit and Superwolf had a comic series, or a TV show, or something…” Daniel bit his lip. “Do you think they’d kiss?”  
Chris stared into Daniel’s big brown eyes, trying to figure out what he was _really_ asking. “I think they would, if Superwolf was okay with it.”  
Daniel started to lean forward, so Chris did the same. The kiss lasted for both forever and no time at all, leaving Chris absolutely giddy. _Is he feeling like this? Did he like it?_  
“When me and Dad were helping Sean move out of his dorm, I met his boyfriend. He gave me this.” Daniel tugged at the bandana.  
“That’s cool.” _Sean has a boyfriend? I didn’t know you could do that… Is that what Daniel wants, with me?_ The thought caused a little bit of panic.  
“Do you want to do it again?” Daniel asked.  
“Kiss?”  
“Yeah.”  
The second time was a tiny bit longer than the first, but made Chris’ heart pound just as much.  
“Do you want to… um… be my boyfriend?”  
Something clenched in Chris’ stomach, like the word was just _wrong_. “I don’t know…” Daniel’s face fell. “Like, I want to kiss you, but… can you keep a secret?”  
Daniel nodded.  
“I… don’t really like being called a boy,” Chris whispered.  
“So if the word wasn’t ‘boyfriend’, you’d like it?”  
“Yeah, I think so.”  
The two thought for a moment. “Girlfriend?” Daniel suggested. “I dunno, it’s the only word I could think of.”  
“No, that doesn’t sound right, either.”  
Daniel frowned. “But you can’t be my sidekick – you’re the Captain!”  
“Maybe… crime-fighting partner? Oh, I know! Partner!”  
“Chris, do you wanna be my partner?”  
Chris nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah.”  
“And then I’ll be your boyfriend.”  
"Yeah."  
Chris was practically floating for the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

“Guess what? Sean’s going to be coming for a week! It feels like I haven’t seen him in forever!”  
“Why doesn’t he come for the whole summer like you do?” Chris asked.  
“He says it’s because he needs to work, but I think he actually spends a lot of time with his friends, especially the new ones he’s made in college.”  
“I’m going to miss hanging out with you and… everything… while he’s here.”  
“What do you mean? You can still come over.”  
“But don’t you want to hang out with him, like, by yourself?”  
“I mean, a little bit, but I bet he’ll spend a lot of time talking to Grandma and Grandpa about stuff that happened while he was at college. I’ve already heard all the interesting stories, so I need _someone_ to save me from boredom!”  
“Okay, I’ll still come over.”  
“Ooh, I just realized Sean doesn’t know about us yet!”  
“Are – are you sure we should tell him?”  
“Why wouldn’t we? He has a boyfriend, it’s not like he wouldn’t get it.”  
“Yeah, he has a _boyfriend_, not a partner. What if he doesn’t get _that_?”  
“I guess I didn’t think about that,” Daniel said. “We don’t have to tell him if you don’t want to. I just thought it would be cool.”  
“I think it would be cool if he knew, but I don’t want him to act like Dad and how he always says stuff like ‘you’re a man now,’” Chris said.  
“I don’t think he’d do that, but… you decide.”  
“Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

* * *

“It’s so nice you could join us for supper tonight, Chris,” Claire said as she started collecting everyone’s plates. “Are you sure you don’t want to bring some leftovers home for your dad?”  
“It’s fine, promise,” Chris said.  
“Besides, I’ll probably want some for a midnight snack,” Sean said from across the table, causing everyone else to laugh.  
Chris tapped Daniel on the shoulder, then whispered, “I think I want to tell him.”  
Daniel nodded. “May we be excused, Grandma? We need to have a top-secret meeting of the Spirit Squad. And Sean.”  
Claire laughed. “Of course. Remember that we’ll be having dessert in a little bit. I made one of Sean’s favorites.”  
“I can’t wait,” Sean said as he got up and followed Daniel and Chris upstairs to Daniel’s room. “So… what’s up?” he asked them.  
“Y-you can’t tell this to anyone, okay?”  
“Okay. As long as you two aren’t doing drugs. You’re too young for that.”  
“_Sean_\--“ Daniel started to protest.  
“I’m serious, _enano_.”  
“Don’t worry, it’s not anything like that!” Chris shuffled nervously. “Daniel, um… he’s my boyfriend.”  
Daniel stood a little closer to Chris, brushing their hands together.  
“Okay,” Sean said. “I’m glad you told me. You listen to each other, stop when one of you says you don’t like something, right?”  
“Of course!” Chris said.  
“Yeah, Chris is the best.”  
“Okay, I’m just checking. Does anyone else know about this?”  
Daniel and Chris shook their heads.  
“That’s fine. You don’t have to tell anyone you don’t want to.” Sean sighed a little. “Grandma and Grandpa will probably be okay, but some people might try to give you shit. Just try to ignore them. You can always call me if you need anything. That goes for you, too, Chris.”  
“Actually, there’s something else…” Chris said. “I… I’m not Daniel’s boyfriend. I don’t really like being called a boy. I’m his partner.”  
“That’s awesome, Chris. I’m glad you figured that out about yourself. Do you have different pronouns you want me to use?”  
“Wait, isn’t that something that they teach you in school? Like, when you use a different word instead of the name of a person or thing?”  
“Yeah. They’re words that you can use instead of your name, like when you’re telling a story about something. A lot of people use ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘they’, but there’s other words, too.”  
“Wait, you can _choose_?!” Chris smiled widely.  
"Yep."  
“So that means I can use ‘they’? Even though I’m one person?”  
“Yeah. I have a couple friends who do.”  
“Chris drew a picture of Captain Spirit. _They_ drew a picture of Captain Spirit,” Chris said to themself. “I think – I think I want to use they.”


	3. Chapter 3

Daniel ignored the knocking on his door as he continued talking to Chris. “Ooh, I like that one,” he said as Chris twirled around in a flowy shirt long enough to look like a dress on them.  
“I’m so glad Dad kept most of Mom’s old stuff,” Chris said, sitting back down in front of their laptop.  
Another knock sounded against Daniel’s door. “Gimme a second!” he shouted before turning back to Chris. “It’s so cool that you still have your mom’s tuff. I think we have a box in the basement, but Dad’s usually down there working on cars ‘n’ stuff, so I’ve never looked through it.” The door to Daniel’s room opened. “Really, Sean?! I told you to give me a minute!”  
“I’m pretty sure you said a second, _enano_.”  
“Ugh, just get out!”  
“Hey, it’s just payback for all the times you used to come into _my_ room without knocking.” Sean walked a little further into the room. “Hey, Chris.”  
Chris waved. “Hi, Sean.”  
“Sean, did you come in here just to bug me and talk to my partner, or did you actually want something?”  
“Dad sent me to ask you if you wanted to invite Chris to the barbecue at the end of summer, since he’s letting me invite some of my friends.”  
“Of course I do! That’s not even a question!” Daniel turned back to Chris. “Can you come? We invited Grandma and Grandpa, so I bet you could ride with them!”  
Chris nodded. “Yeah, I could probably come.”  
“Oh, and Dad’s ordering pizza,” Sean added, “So you’d better finish talking to Chris before I eat it all.”  
“Not if I eat it all first!”  
“You’d better get out here, then!” Sean left the room, shutting the door behind him.  
After saying goodbye to Chris, Daniel headed out to the living room, where he found Sean sprawled on the couch. “Hey, Sean?”  
“What’s up?” Sean asked, swinging his legs off the couch so Daniel could sit down.  
“Uh…” Daniel perched on the armrest opposite of where Sean was sitting. “Did Dad leave to pick up the pizza yet?”  
“Yeah. I told him you were finishing up with Chris and probably didn’t want to go with.”  
“Okay.” He paused, not sure how to ask about his mom’s stuff. Dad and Sean didn’t talk about her, _ever_. “Do we have any of Mom’s old clothes? Like in that box in the basement?”  
“I think she took most of her stuff with her when she left, and Dad gave the rest away. What do you need them for?”  
“Well, you probably saw, but Chris was trying on some of their mom’s old stuff for me, and it seemed like fun.”  
“I bet Dad would let you play with some of his clothes.”  
“It’s not _playing_, Sean!” Daniel flopped onto the couch on his stomach. “Chris has all this stuff from their mom – clothes, makeup, pictures – and I’ve got nothing.”  
“So you want, like, dresses and makeup and stuff?” Sean asked.  
“I don’t know! I wish we’d thought of doing this when I was still in Beaver Creek.”  
Sean thought for a moment. “Do you want me to ask Lyla if she has some stuff she could bring over sometime? You could Skype Chris while you’re trying it on.”  
“Do you think she’d say yes?”  
Sean shrugged. “I don’t see why not. She’ll probably think it sounds like fun to help you with that kind of stuff.”  
Daniel sat up and pulled Sean into a hug. “Thanks.”  
“Anytime.”

* * *

_2 weeks later…_  
Daniel sprawled on the couch, lifting his wrist to check his watch whenever it felt like some time had passed. It never had.  
Esteban came up from downstairs and chuckled at Daniel’s pout. “No Minecraft?”  
“Sean and Lyla are coming over any time now, and we’re going to Skype Chris.” Daniel checked his watch again, for good measure.  
“Ah, having fun without me. I was _thinking_ we could get takeout, maybe play that one game with the cars…”  
“You _still_ don’t know what it’s called?”  
“Hmm… you’d better remind me,” Esteban said with a small smile.  
“Grand Theft Auto! We’ve been over this like a million times!”  
“Alright, I’ll stop bugging you since it sounds like you’ve already got plans. I just haven’t seen too much of you lately, between your trip to Beaver Creek, spending time with Sean while he’s home, and you hiding out in your room all the time. What are you up to in there?”  
“Uh… Skyping Chris, usually. I wish they lived closer.”  
“You wouldn’t get sick of Chris if you saw… them?... all the time?”  
“No way! We always have a ton of fun, and I love watching them draw. They have so many cool ideas.”  
“You sound like how you used to talk about Lyla.”  
“_Dad_, this is different! We’re actually dating!” Daniel blurted out without thinking.  
“Oh. Uh, okay! Wow, I didn’t expect you to be getting into that so young.”  
Daniel rolled his eyes. The front door opened, saving him from the rest of the conversation.  
“I’ve got presents!” Lyla shouted, holding up a cardboard box for Daniel to see. Sean was right behind her with a couple more boxes.  
“Whoa!” Daniel shouted, getting off the couch to hug Lyla. “I didn’t think you’d bring this much stuff!”  
“Dude, it’s Lyla,” Sean said, shouldering the front door shut after a couple of tries. “What did you expect?”  
“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Lyla teased.  
Sean rolled his eyes. “Okay, can I get a little help here? Or are we just going to stand here all day?”  
Daniel took one of the boxes and led the two of them to his room.  
“Have fun in there! I’ll be out here if you need me!” Esteban called.  
Daniel giggled, slamming the door shut behind him and putting down his box. He ran over to his desk to call Chris. “Come on… pick up already…” he muttered, tapping his fingers on his desk.  
Sean laughed. “Dude, it’s been two seconds. Chill a little.”  
Finally, Chris picked up. “Hey Daniel.”  
“Hey Chris! Uh, Sean’s here, and so’s his friend Lyla.”  
“Hey,” Chris said, waving to the two of them. Their eyes darted over to the boxes stacked near Daniel’s bed. “Daniel… what’s that?”  
“Well...” Daniel pulled out a skirt that was at the top of one of the boxes and held it up so Chris could see. “It’s some stuff Lyla brought over!”  
Sean started laughing.  
“_Sean_, it’s not funny!” Daniel glared at him.  
Lyla took the skirt and flipped it around. “It’s actually a shirt,” she whispered.  
“Oh!” Daniel could feel himself starting to blush. “I knew that!” He looked at it in confusion, trying to figure out where his arms were supposed to go since there weren’t any sleeves.  
“Don’t worry,” Sean said. “I only knew because I’d seen Lyla wear it before. Otherwise I’d have no idea.”  
“Now that we’ve established who the fashionista is here,” Lyla said, tossing her hair back, “Let’s get to work.”  
“Okay… I _do_ like this. It kind of reminds me of when we went stargazing from the Flying Fortress,” Daniel said, looking at Chris.  
“Oh yeah! I _love_ those glittery stars,” Chris said, leaning closer to their screen.  
“Hmm… you put that on while I find something else that matches,” Lyla said, voice muffled as she dug through the boxes.  
“Hey!” Sean exclaimed after a light thump while Daniel was changing shirts. He turned around to see his brother holding a black skirt.  
“Hold onto that,” Lyla said, continuing to go through the clothing. “That would look good, but I’m pretty sure there’s another skirt in here that would be the right shade of gold…”  
“Wait, there’s different shades of gold?” Daniel asked.  
“Yes,” Sean and Chris at the same time.  
“Jinx!” Chris shouted, making the speakers on Daniel’s laptop crackle a little. “When I’m at your house for the barbecue, you owe me.”  
Sean started laughing.  
“Trust me, you won’t want any more caffeine after a Diaz barbecue,” Lyla said. She shot Sean a look. “What is up with you?”  
“Sorry,” Sean said between bouts of laughter, “It’s just that one of the people I hang out with at college – we all call them Jinx – whenever we say something at the same time, instead of getting each other soda, we go give them a hug or a high-five or fingerguns, whatever they’re up for.”  
“Ugh, if you want to talk about your weird friends so much, then just go hang out with them,” Daniel said. “Lyla, did you find that skirt yet?”  
“Yep! Here you go!” She threw it at Daniel, who actually caught it, unlike Sean.  
“You’re going to meet my ‘weird friends’ at the barbecue anyways, so you’d better get used to them now,” Sean said.  
Daniel huffed. “Well, I just won’t talk to them! I’ll have Chris there!”  
“Wait, but what if _I_ want to meet Sean’s friends?” Chris asked.  
Daniel pouted a little as he finished pulling the skirt on. “Traitor.”  
“Come on, twirl for us!” Lyla said.  
Daniel moved so he was in view of his webcam and twirled around.  
“Whoa! I love the blue and gold on you, Daniel,” Chris said.  
“I’ve got one more thing if you want it,” Lyla said, pulling out a makeup bag. “I was thinking some gold eyeshadow would look good with that.”  
“Yeah! Hey Sean, you should try some, too!”  
“Okay, fine. But you go first.”  
Daniel closed his eyes as Lyla put the eyeshadow on him. “Can you stop moving so much?” she asked.  
“Sorry, it just feels weird.”  
Once Lyla was done, she moved on to Sean. Daniel turned to Chris, who had put some eyeshadow on themself.  
“Wow, Daniel. You look so…” Chris struggled to find words.  
“Thanks. You, too.”  
“Come on, Sean, let’s give these two little lovebirds some privacy,” Lyla said, dragging Sean out of the room. Daniel blushed at the comment.  
“Chris? Can I ask you something?” Daniel asked after double-checking that she’d shut the door behind her.  
“Yeah, what’s up?”  
“Why do you want to meet Sean’s friends so badly? I don’t get it.”  
“When Sean mentioned Jinx, he said ‘them’ instead of him or her. I was thinking maybe Jinx is like me and doesn’t feel like a boy or a girl. I’ve never met someone else that’s felt that way before.”  
“Oh. You’d still hang out with me, though, right?”  
“Of course! But… would you come with me when I talk to Jinx? It’s… kind of scary, telling other people about this, but I think I’d be a little less scared if I had Superwolf with me.”  
Daniel grinned. “I’ll always have your back, Captain Spirit!”  
“I was wondering something else,” Chris said. “Did you do all this for me?”  
“No,” Daniel replied. “I did it for me.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“At first I was kind of jealous that you had all this cool stuff from your mom. But after today… I don’t think it was ‘not having anything from Mom’ that I was jealous of. I just wanted to have flowy clothing and makeup and all that kind of stuff. Like, I still like wearing jeans and t-shirts and stuff, but… this is cool, too.” Daniel glanced over at the boxes of stuff Lyla had brought. His eyes fell on a bag of hair ties. “Do you think I’d look good with longer hair? ‘Cause I’ve kind of thought of it sometimes, but....” He shrugged as he ran a hand through his bangs, which were starting to fall into his eyes.  
Chris shrugged shyly. “I think it would look cute.”  
“Nah, _you’re_ the super cute one.”  
“No, you!” Their little argument dissolved into laughter.  
“I wish I could kiss you right now,” Daniel said.  
Chris blushed. “Yeah, me too. It seems like it’ll be _forever_ until I see you again, even though the barbecue is only in a couple weeks.”  
“I can’t wait to see you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! Here's the last chapter!

Daniel grabbed the napkins and throw-away plates and silverware, balancing them precariously in his arms as he walked toward the door. He groaned as he noticed the plastic cups still sitting on the counter. He reached over, fingers just barely grabbing them and adding them to the pile. He almost made it to the door when it burst open.  
“Daniel!” Chris shouted. “Do you need any help with that?”  
“No, I got it, just… get the door for me?”  
“Of course,” Chris said, holding the door open. As Daniel walked by, they planted a quick kiss on his cheek.  
“Here you go, Dad,” Daniel said, setting the load down on the outdoor table.   
“Thanks,” Esteban said. “I don’t need anything else for now, so you can go play with Chris.”  
“_Dad_.”  
“Okay, you can _hang out_, or _chill_, or whatever it is you kids do.”  
Daniel turned to Chris and attempted to kiss their cheek, but Chris pulled away. “You’ll have to catch me first, Superwolf!” They ran off into the lawn, Daniel following until he nearly ran into someone.  
“Whoa! Slow down, little fella!” A girl with pink dreads shouted.  
“I’m not ‘little’,” Daniel said, crossing his arms and glaring at her. “For your information, I’m twelve.”  
“Aw, don’t mind her,” Finn said, walking up behind her. “It’s just the way Sean talks about you to all of us. I think sometimes he forgets you’re not a little kid anymore.”  
“Finn!” Daniel shouted, giving him a quick hug.  
Chris walked up to them. “Is this Sean’s boyfriend?”  
“That’s me,” Finn said. “An’ who’re you?”  
“I’m Chris, Daniel’s –“ he gave them an encouraging look “—partner.”  
“Well, it’s nice to meet you. This is Cassidy,” Finn said, resting a hand on the girl’s shoulder.  
“Really, Daniel?” Sean asked, walking up to the group. “My boyfriend gets here and you don’t even tell me?”  
Finn pulled him close and gave him a lingering kiss. “It’s okay. We were jus’ doing introductions an’ stuff. You didn’t miss anything.”  
“Well, it _would’ve_ saved me from talking to grandma and grandpa for so long.”  
“Gotta love the grandparents,” Cassidy said sarcastically. “I’m gonna go check on Penny and Jinx.” She headed toward the house.  
“Um, Sean… do you think we could talk to Jinx at some point?” Chris asked.  
Sean shrugged. “Do whatever you want. I get to see them all the time at college. It’s fine if you want to hang out with them now.”  
“Okay… I just wasn’t sure, since they’re your friend…”  
“Hey, you don’t need to ask permission to talk to my friends. They don’t _belong_ to me. The same goes for you, Daniel.”  
“Thanks, Sean,” Chris said, taking Daniel’s hand. “Let’s go.”  
Evading Claire and Stephen, who’d somehow ended up in a conversation with Lyla, the two made it into the house. “Hey. You’re Daniel and Chris, right?” Another girl asked, looking at each of them in turn. “I’m Hannah.”  
“Hi Hannah – I like your tattoos!” Daniel said. “They look like little doodles, like Sean and Chris sometimes do.”  
“Thanks. You like drawing?” Hannah asked Chris.  
“Yeah, I do. My mom drew comics, and my dad says I got it from her.”  
“Aw, that’s cute,” Hannah said.  
“Don’t just stand there and chat without introducing us,” one of Sean’s friends said jokingly.  
Hannah rolled her eyes. “This is Penny, and Jinx is over there on the couch.”  
“Hi! I’m Daniel, and this is Chris,” Daniel said.  
Jinx got up from the couch, mischief shining in their eyes. “You know, you’re a little bigger than Sean described,” they said to Daniel. Kneeling down, they held their hand about a foot above the ground. “This is how tall he was saying you were.”  
“He did not!”  
“Uh-huh. Said you were a little gremlin, stealing his treasure.”  
“I only took a watch, and that was one time!”  
“I’m just kidding, you know,” Jinx said, standing up.  
“You never know,” Penny whispered. “Even I don’t know.”  
“Hey! I heard that!” Jinx turned their attention to Chris. “You seem a little nervous.”  
“Uh… Sean used they pronouns to refer to you one day… and I was wondering…”  
“Ah, yes, the great gender conspiracy,” Jinx said. “Do I exist, or do I not? What do you think?”  
“Of course you do! Because you’re right there, and because… I like they pronouns, too.”  
Jinx grinned. “We’ve got a baby enby here!”  
“Enby? What does that mean?”  
“Someone who’s non-binary. Like… not feeling completely like a boy or a girl.”  
“Oh, yeah! I don’t really feel like either of those.”  
“Wait… what if you kinda… feel like both, instead of none? Does that count?” Daniel asked.  
“It counts as long as you feel like it does,” Jinx said.  
“Wait, you’re non-binary, too?” Chris asked.  
“I’ve been kinda thinking about it, and… yeah. I think that’s why I liked being around Lyla so much as a kid, because then I didn’t feel like ‘one of the boys.’”  
“Oh. That makes sense.”  
“Food’s ready!” Esteban yelled from outside.  
Daniel quickly kissed Chris’ cheek before they could run off. “I got you, Captain Spirit!”

* * *

A couple days after the barbecue, Daniel got a text from Chris.  
**Chris:** I told my dad abt not being a boy and abt us dating  
**Daniel:** ??? How’d it go?  
**Chris:** I think he was kinda confused. He said he needed to lay down, but he brought his laptop with, so I think he’s trying to learn  
**Daniel:** Yay!  
“Daniel! Dinner’s ready!” Esteban called from the kitchen.  
**Daniel:** Gtg  
**Chris:** XOXOXO  
**Daniel:** XOXOXOXOXO  
Daniel walked into the kitchen.   
“There you are,” Esteban said. He noticed the skirt Daniel had changed into after school. “Feeling like a girl right now, or just wanted to wear a skirt?”  
“I just felt like wearing it.”  
“Okay, _mijo_. Just let me know if that changes, okay?”  
“Okay!” Daniel grabbed a plate and started serving himself. “Uh, Dad? I think you made too much.”  
Esteban sighed. “You’re right. I keep forgetting that Sean isn’t here.”  
“I miss him, too. But… that means we get to hang out more, just the two of us!”  
“You’re right. Do you want to play something after we eat?”  
Daniel smiled. “That sounds good.”


End file.
